Kiowa art is the visual art of the Kiowa, an indigenous people of the Southern Plains. Today they are centered in southwest Oklahoma.
As early as 1891, Kiowa artists were being commissioned to produce works for display at international expositions. The "Kiowa Five" were some of the earliest Native Americans to receive international recognition for their work in the fine art world. They influenced generations of Indian artists among the Kiowa, and other Plains tribes. Traditional craft skills are not lost among the Kiowa people today and the talented fine arts and crafts produced by Kiowa Indians helped the Oklahoma Indian Arts and Crafts Cooperative flourish over its 20 year existence.
Painting
editHide painting
editLedger art
editEarly Kiowa ledger artists were those held in captivity by the U.S. Army at Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida (1875–1878) at the conclusion of the Red River War, which also is known as the Southern Plains Indian War.[1] Ledger art emerges from the Plains hide painting tradition. These Fort Marion artists include Kiowas Etadleuh Doanmoe and Zotom, who was a prolific artist who he chronicled his experiences before and after becoming a captive at the fort. After his release from Fort Marion, Paul Zom-tiam (Zonetime, Koba) studied theology from 1878 until 1881, when he was ordained as a deacon in the Episcopal church.[2]
Kiowa Six
editFollowing in Silver Horn's footsteps are the Kiowa Six, or, as they have been called in the past, the Kiowa Five. They are Spencer Asah, James Auchiah, Jack Hokeah, Stephen Mopope, Lois Bougetah Smoky, and Monroe Tsatoke[3] Coming from the area around Anadarko, Oklahoma, these artists studied at the University of Oklahoma. Lois Smoky left the group in 1927, but James Auchiah took her place in the group. The Kiowa Five gained international recognition as fine artists by exhibiting their work in the 1928 International Art Congress in Czechoslovakia and then participated in the Venice Biennale in 1932.[4]
Sculptors
editBlackbear Bosin, Parker Boyiddle
Beadwork
editNoted Kiowa beadwork artists include Lois Smoky, Richard Aitson, Judy Beaver, Vanessa Paukeigope Jennings, Leatrice Geimasaddle, and Teri Greeves.
Photographers
editKiowa photographer Horace Poolaw (1906–1984) was one of the most prolific Native American photographers of his generation. He documented the Kiowa people living near his community in Mountain View, Oklahoma beginning the 1920s. His legacy is continued today by his grandson, Thomas Poolaw, a prominent Kiowa photographer and digital artist.[5]
Notable Kiowa artists
edit- Richard Aitson (born 1953), Kiowa-Kiowa Apache bead artist
- Spencer Asah (c. 1905 – 1954), Kiowa, painter (one of the Kiowa Six)
- James Auchiah (1906–1975), painter (one of the Kiowa Six)
- Big Bow (ca. 1845–1901)[6]
- Blackbear Bosin (1921–1980), Kiowa-Comanche, painter, sculptor
- T.C. Cannon (Pai-doung-u-day), Kiowa-Caddo-Choctaw painter and printmaker
- Dohasan
- Teri Greeves, Kiowa-Comanche bead artist
- Jack Hokeah (1902–1973), Kiowa, painter (one of the Kiowa Six)
- Vanessa Jennings, Kiowa-Kiowa Apache-Pima, bead artist, traditional clothing and tipi maker
- N. Scott Momaday
- Stephen Mopope (1898–1974), Kiowa, painter (one of the Kiowa Six)
- Horace Poolaw (1906–1984), Kiowa photographer
- Silver Horn (1860–1940), Kiowa painter
- Lois Bougetah Smoky (1907–1981), Kiowa bead artist and painter (one of the Kiowa Six)
- Monroe Tsatoke (1904–1937), Kiowa painter (one of the Kiowa Six)
- White Horse (chief), (unknown–1892), Fort Marion ledger artist
Notes
edit- ^ Southern Plains Indian war
- ^ Viola 16
- ^ "About the Kiowa Five." Jacobson House Native Art Center. (retrieved 10 Nov 2010)
- ^ Dunn 240
- ^ "Urban 5 Show at USD." American Indian Journalism Institute. (retrieved 7 Oct 2010)
- ^ Lester 63–4
References
edit- Lester, Patrick D. The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. ISBN 0-8061-9936-9.
External links
edit- Kiowa Drawings, National Anthropological Archives.